


The King of Owls

by BelaBellissima



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: #batfamcontentwar, Court of Owls AU, Dark, Dick Grayson is a Talon, F/M, I LOVE Jason and Cass as siblings, The Court of Owls is really mean lets be honest, ish, jason and cass are siblings, listen, two of my favorite personal headcannons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-13
Updated: 2017-09-13
Packaged: 2018-12-27 11:43:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12080382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BelaBellissima/pseuds/BelaBellissima
Summary: "For I am the King of Owls.Where I float no shadow falls.I have hungers, such terrible hungers, you cannot know.Lords, I sharpen my talons on your bones."- “The King of Owls” – Louise ErdrichIn which Thomas and Martha Wayne survive that night in the alley, and the family comes together in a much darker way.





	The King of Owls

**Author's Note:**

> yeah so I wrote and edited this in two days for the #batfamcontentwar instead of doing other things that I actually needed to do so I hope you enjoy??? 
> 
> this entire thing is basically just that awkward moment when your parents survive getting mugged and your life is worse off for it. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

In another world, they walk down Park Row. They get shot, and the ambulance arrives too late. The Night belongs to the Bat.

In this world, twenty-two-year-old Crystal Brown is walking home from her first shift as a nurse at Gotham General Hospital and she hears the pleading. She hears the gunshots and the pearls hitting the ground and the thuds of running feet. In this world, she bursts into the alley and presses her hands to the bullet wound in the woman’s chest. She rips off her jacket and presses it there to stem the bleeding, using one hand to hold it while the other is calling for an ambulance. She shouts at the poor child who witnesses everything to take his own jacket off, to mimic what she’s doing with his father.

In this world, it’s enough.

In this world, Thomas and Martha Wayne survive.

In this world, the Bat is never born.

The Night belongs to the Court.

* * *

He’s fifteen when his parents tell him that they’d lied to him.

All in all, he’s not that mad.

The Court of Owls is real apparently, but they’re not something to fear. The Talon will never come for Bruce’s head because his parents are members, what with being the wealthiest couple in Gotham. In fact, not only are they members, but they’re at the highest-ranking level within the Court that they can be without being the Grandmaster himself.

The Grandmaster doesn’t seem to mind this, despite it meaning that Bruce decides to shadow him whenever possible. The Grandmaster doesn’t have any heirs of his own, and Bruce decides quickly that when the mantle is one day passed on, he wants it to be given to him.

The Grandmaster laughs when Bruce tells him this, promising to keep an open mind. He takes it as a challenge, and begins to set his plans in motion.

It’s not hard to figure out who the next Talon is going to be. William Cobb is one of their best, so it’s obvious that his descendent will take his place one day. Bruce figures it will be his great grandson Richard, who had been born in Europe only a few months earlier. He sets about tracking Haly’s circus, and makes sure he’s always nearby whenever they come to Gotham. It’ll still be a few years until Richard is retrieved, but making a connection with Jack in the present will surely help him later. In the meantime, he has things he must accomplish.

He tells his parents what his plans are, and is incredibly thankful they agree. They want him to get far in the Court, and the only way to do that is to go up. They send him to other parts of the world and give him tutors to keep him company. He continues his required education in hotel rooms and private suites, but at night he trains with the most influential people in the world, seeking out alliances. Having someone offering protection and aid is the one lesson he learned that night in the alley that truly stuck with him. He can’t imagine what might have become of him without the aid of that nurse.

(He makes a note to check up on her – it might come in useful to have a medically trained individual at his disposal. Leslie of course is a family friend, but she’s always been more for his parents than for him.)

He finds himself in a long-thought fictional place around his nineteenth birthday: The League of Shadows. He trains with them, catching the eye of Ra’s al Ghul himself. Ra’s has a problem with his sense of entitlement, Bruce knows, but keeps his mouth shut about it. Bruce has proved many times over that he has earned everything he’s been given, and he will not quit until he succeeds.

He meets Talia a year later. It’s humorous for him, but she’s fuming at the end of their introduction.

Ra’s had called for him in the middle of the night, and Bruce had grumbled but obliged, kneeling though he hated it at the foot of Ra’s throne until he was allowed to stand. There was a woman his own age to Ra’s right, standing tall, proud, and annoyed as she looked down upon Bruce.

“Why have you called for this boy, Father?” she had demanded, her arms folded across her chest.

Bruce had glanced up, seen a little spark of humor in Ra’s eyes, and returned his gaze to the ground.

“I want you to spar,” Ra’s had answered. “This man will one day rule the West as our ally, Talia. See if you can defeat him now.”

Talia had sneered at him and attacked without further delay, but her haughty and disinterested demeanor vanished when Bruce managed to hold his own, ducking under swipes and jumping over kicks. Talia had many weapons on her and Bruce had none, yet by the end of the fight, Talia had more wounds than did he.

He had snatched one of her own blades from her halfway through, unbalancing her enough that she fell to the ground, and rather than holding out a hand to help her up, Bruce had flipped the dagger in his hand once then tucked it away.

“Thanks for the blade, princess,” he’d smirked, turning away from her in clear dismissal to bow to Ra’s again. Ra’s had released him without hesitation, choosing to deal with his daughter’s fury as she began to yell at him.

Bruce decides he likes her, and therefore is incredibly satisfied when she attempts to kill him in his sleep a mere two nights later. He must’ve made quite the impression.

He fights her with a bit of difficulty, and ends up explaining to her more about who he is as they battle – Talia quickly gives up on trying to kill him in favor of seeing just how long he can last against her.

The fight ends minutes later with Bruce on his back, the blade he had taken from Talia back in her hands and pressed against his jugular, the weight of her body over his keeping him from moving away.

“Think quickly, princess,” he quips, a raucous smile on his face. “Do you really want to kill an ally who can give you the West?”

She kisses him instead.

And then, when he’s twenty-two and Richard is eight, Bruce gets word that it will happen soon. He leaves the League of Shadows and Talia with promises to return once his next step is complete. She doesn’t seem all that sad to see him go. Bruce is unbothered by it – while their relationship was a bright flame burning in the night, it was easily extinguished with distance, and could just as easily be re-lit.

In Gotham, the members of the Court with influence in the Maroni crime family order for one of their best to cause problems in the circus. Zucco is almost pathetic in his goal: he thinks ‘problems’ mean demanding a protection racket, but the vicious vengeance he enacts at being denied is closer to what the Court was hoping for.

Bruce is waiting in the audience when the Graysons fall, and is the first one at the future Talon’s side. He holds the boy close, shielding his eyes from the gruesome scene on the circus floor. Over Richard’s shoulder, Bruce sees Jack and Janet Drake scowling by the exit, their son Timothy hiding between them.

He smirks in their direction, knowing that they were here for the same thing. _They_ had hoped to be the ones to bring in the boy, but since Bruce beat them to Richard, he had the honor of presenting him to the Court – as well as a big say in how the boy would be trained.

Richard trusts him somehow, clinging to Bruce’s suit and hand as he deals with the police and Child Services. He can’t keep the boy, not when he’s got such a big spotlight on him, so he lets him go, knowing he can whisk him away in the darkness. He whispers in Richards ear that he’ll be there at midnight, and the hope in Richard’s eyes makes Bruce practically crow with victory.

Richard is all too eager to follow him out the window and down into the sewers when he finally comes for him. He holds Bruce’s hand as they go, trusting that the man who had held him during his darkest moments will eventually lead him back out into the sky to freedom.

Bruce almost laughs. The little bird won’t see the sky for a long time, but when he finally spreads his wings to hunt down his prey, it will be magnificent.

-

He returns to Talia’s side when he’s twenty-seven. He’s been trained as much as is possible, and while he has nothing more to learn, he still knows to keep allies and reinforce bonds whenever he can. He’d done it two years earlier with the nurse who’d saved his parents, seeking her out to shower money and good fortune upon her. The hospital had received a grant, her abusive husband had been convicted of something he ironically _didn’t_ do, her seven-year-old daughter had been given a scholarship to Gotham Academy that would last her until graduating high school, and Crystal herself had her rehab expenses fully taken care of.

Now, however, was the time to focus on Talia.

The first thing she does when he arrives is tell him to leave. He almost laughs.

“Go, Bruce,” she repeats. “There are two people I would like you to meet waiting for you in your room.”

He obliges out of curiosity, easily remembering the way to his old room. He pushes open the door, ready for an attack – it wouldn’t surprise him if Talia set this up as some elaborate way to test if his skills had waned during their years apart. Instead, he sees two children, each no older than ten.

“Well then. Hello there,” he says. The boy stands protectively in front of the girl, but everyone in the room knows that she’s the one with the true ability. “Who are you both supposed to be?”

The girl tilts her head but says nothing. The boy balls his hands into fists and stands up tall. “Jason. And that’s Cassandra, my sister. Who are _you_ supposed to be?”

Talia walks in after Jason says this, and Cassandra drops immediately to one knee. Jason looks a little confused, but stays standing between his sister and the two adults.

“Bruce, meet your new bodyguards. Cassandra is the child of Lady Shiva and David Cain, trained from birth to be the perfect weapon. Her half-brother Jason, another child of Shiva’s, is… less trained, but no less passionate about protecting what he considers to be his.”

Jason scrunches up his nose, clearly sensing an insult but also not disagreeing. Cassandra stands from the floor finally, reaching forward to clasp her brother’s hand in hers. Bruce smiles. This could be useful. While Talon favored him, there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t hurt or kill Bruce if ordered to by another member of the Court. Having two children of Shiva loyal only to him and Talia would be exactly the kind of force he might need should anyone challenge him for the title of Grandmaster.

He steps closer and crouches in front of the two young children, reaching forward to take each’s free hand in one of his own.

“How would you like to come live with me in Gotham?” he asks, fully expecting a no. “I’ll provide anything you could ever want for, in exchange for your loyalty.”

Jason’s face shutters, a wistful look flickering in his eyes. “You could take us home?”

_Interesting,_ Bruce thinks.

He laughs lightly. “Jason, I’m Bruce Wayne. I can do whatever the hell I want.”

The wistfulness is gone in an instant, replaced with caution and a fair bit of contempt. “The billionaire?”

Bruce looks down for a moment. “I take it I’ve caused something negative in your life? If you come with me, I can try to fix it for you.”

When he looks up Cassandra’s eyes are flinty, carving him into pieces to dissect. It’s clear she isn’t fooled by his placations, but she says nothing against him. Just because he’s bribing Jason doesn’t mean he won’t follow through on his promises.

Jason shrugs. “Sure. But I’ll hold you to it, and if you don’t, I’ll sic Cass on you.”

Bruce stands and drops their hands. “I can agree to that. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Talia and I have some catching up to do. We won’t leave for a few weeks, but I’ll send for you when I’m ready.”

Two months later, when he is preparing to leave for Gotham, Talia approaches him, sliding her hands up his arms from behind.

“Beloved,” she murmurs, though both of them know the word rings false. “If I were to go with you to Gotham, would you accept me there?”

His fingers stall where they’re fixing his tie, his Shadow’s uniform tucked away until he returns. “Why? I was under the impression you couldn’t care less about my leaving.”

“Normally, yes, but in light of recent events, my father has ordered me to go with you. I’ll be following you no matter what, but I figured I’d at least give you the illusion of a choice.”

“Recent events?” Bruce asks, finishing up his tie and moving in to his cufflinks.

Talia slides around him, pulling his hands down until she can press one low on her abdomen.

Bruce stares at his hand on her, his mind racing. This changes things, and he has so much to reconsider and so many plans to rework to include this development.

He needs to consider what the child might need while also seting up accounts and a will and fallback plans so that his legacy won’t be destroyed and everything he built won’t one day come crashing back down.

_'I’m going to have a child,'_ a part of him thinks, the feeling curling up in his chest and warming him.

_'An heir for the Court,'_ the more twisted side of him thinks, settling deep into his mind and sharpening his ambitions.

“Our child will rule the world,” Talia says, pulling his hand down and looking him directly in the eye. “They will inherit the West from you and the East from me, and nothing will be able to stand in their way. They will be the next Alexander.”

Bruce smiles. “Talia al Ghul, will you marry me?”

Talia smiles as well, a feral and cold slash of white teeth across her face. “Why Beloved, I thought you’d never ask.”

-

His mother and father are distantly delighted for him. They know enough about who Talia is to be proud of his accomplishments, but other than that, they do not truly grasp just how beneficial their partnership will one day be. They’re far more interested in Jason and Cassandra, who fit in beautifully at the Manor.

Thanks to his contacts in Child Services, it’s far too easy to get legal custody of one Jason Peter Todd, street rat of Park Row, and Cassandra Cain, his long-lost sister. His marriage to Talia gets more news coverage, as the infamous young prince of Gotham goes officially off the market. (They don’t need to know that he still has dalliances with others – Samantha Vanaver, for instance, another Court member and theoretical rival for the title of Grandmaster. Victoria Vale makes an appearance once or twice, as does the infamous thief Selina Kyle. Talia knows, of course. After all, it would be hard to miss a third person joining in.)

The Drakes are murdered in Haiti when Timothy is eight, and Bruce graciously agrees to take him in when the Grandmaster asks. It’s not even that much of a burden – Timothy is a bright young boy, and Bruce knows he’ll be lucky to have him by his side one day.

Timothy bonds quickly with Jason and Cassandra since they’re so close in age. Bruce is alone more often than not, despite the whole point of taking in Shiva’s kids being that they would shadow him as unknown bodyguards. Part of him doesn’t even mind, because it’s almost rather cute how they get along.

Richard comes by sometimes.

Bruce finds it difficult to call him Talon when they’re in the manor. Not only is it a crossover between his Court life and his daytime life, but Richard acts differently when he’s not on a mission. The thirteen-year-old assassin still smiles when he sees the sky, even though the light makes his eyes sting and water. He tells his own version of jokes, a bit morbid, but humorous none-the-less. Jason likes it, laughing freely whenever Richard lets one loose about his enhanced healing.

Damian is born only a few months later. He’s healthy and strong, and he’s got a pair of lungs on him so loud that the whole manor soon begins to lose sleep. Thomas and Martha no longer attend the Court meetings, and Jason, Cass, and Tim all accompany Bruce and Talia now as their children, filling up an entire row right behind the Grandmaster, which leaves Richard to take care of the screaming baby. Talon isn’t needed at most meetings – he gets his assignments personally and is still too new to have to battle a replacement for the title. Within a few weeks, Damian has bonded with the assassin, which irritates Thomas and Martha to no end. Alfred is distinctly unbothered.

Nothing any of them do will quiet Damian when he wakes up in the night to find his parents gone, but all Richard has to do is pick him up and hang from the chandelier to get him to stop screaming.

When Damian is one, Timothy comes home with a friend from school, one who just happens to be Stephanie Brown. The family hides _almost_ nothing from her, telling her of the bravery of her mother and how they owe their lives to Crystal. Stephanie shrugs.

“Cool,” she says unenthused. Bruce looks her mother up again, and is unimpressed with Crystal’s progress. The nurse had been in and out of rehab four times in the three years since he helped her, and he wastes no time at all forging the required papers to make Stephanie another Wayne.

“Cool,” she says again when he tells her, a large smile and big dimples lighting up her face. Bruce knows she’ll have no problem fitting in.

-

Bruce is thirty-four when he discovers the betrayal. It’s been twenty years almost to the day since his parents were shot in Park Row when he gets an anonymous instant message in green text delivered right to his phone. He’s curious enough that he opens it immediately, and the files that begin downloading give evidence to the mugging being contracted.

The first file he looks at is on a man named Joe Chill. He’s a small-time crook, only a few counts of petty theft or drug possession. There’s nothing to indicate that’s he’s anything special, but the next file is a money transfer of $20,000 with a date twenty years old, almost to the day. The next file is an old video, one that Bruce has seen countless times in his life, but this time, it’s received a boost in quality. Bruce watches as Joe Chill pulls out a gun and shoots his parents, then runs off down the alley.

The next file is of a man named Lewis Moxon. He’s a bigger fish in the crime pond of Gotham, in and out of prison with a large decade long sentence for armed robbery. The file on the trial shows that Thomas had testified against him, and it had been what ultimately gained him the guilty verdict. The next file is of Moxon’s bank account, and shows that he made the transfer to Chill, but also received one a week earlier for five times as much from an offshore account, one that was incredibly well disguised.

The next file is of that account with its owner revealed: The Grandmaster.

Bruce sees red, and he moves up his plans.

-

Talon is twenty and capable of helping Bruce in the fight. Cassandra is eighteen and Jason is seventeen, and Bruce still wants them to stay hidden, because he’s managed for seven years to keep their true abilities and lineage secret, and he’s not looking to give up that advantage yet, though he will if he must. Tim is fifteen and a genius with electronics, so he’ll be helping from the safety of the manor. Stephanie is fourteen and doesn’t know yet about the Court, so she’s taking care of six-year-old Damian while the rest of the family is occupied.

His parents decide to join him in this battle, accompanying him to the Court to watch as he takes down the man who ordered their death two decades earlier. Bruce doesn’t know why he never tried again, and he doesn’t really care. All that matters is that the Grandmaster pays for the attack on the Waynes.

The mysterious green texter wishes him luck and sends more information to him as he plans, giving Bruce all the Grandmaster’s weaknesses to exploit and every other member of the Court who has acted similarly. He has Tim transfer all his holdings to Wayne Enterprises, sabotages any plans in progress or on the drawing board, and he does it all within the last hour before the Court meets, ironically enough to vote on the next Grandmaster. The current Grandmaster won’t have any time or preparation or even forewarning of this attack, just the way Bruce wants it.

They dress up in their best clothes, sliding black versions of the owl masks onto their faces as they walk through the tunnels to the main hall. Even Richard is wearing one instead of his Talon uniform, showing his alliances lie truly with Bruce, not with the current Grandmaster and the Court.

They walk in late enough that the meeting has already started. There are hushed gasps as the people of the Court take in their different appearances, whispers traded behind curved hands and shifting glances. Bruce only has eyes for the podium, where the betrayer and Samantha Vanaver are standing. It appears he has been overlooked after all.

“Bruce? What is this?” the betrayer asks, turning away from Samantha to place his hands almost delicately on the edges of the podium. “Why are you not in uniform?”

“Because Grandmaster,” Bruce says, stepping forward slowly, each footfall as silent as Talon’s behind him, “you tried to kill my parents, and no one who threatens me or my own _ever_ survives the attempt. I have taken everything from you: your projects, your money, and even destroyed your name. And now the only thing left to take is your life.”

Richard attacks, drawing his blades from hidden pockets and beginning his dance of destruction around the room. Only certain members are targeted – those who supported the Grandmaster in his many executions throughout the years, those who have their own dirty secrets against other Court members hiding in their closets, and those who have personally hurt Richard at some point in his tenure as Talon. Bruce pays it no mind, walking right up to the Grandmaster, now cowering alone and abandoned by Samantha.

Talia takes her place right beside him, drawing a beautiful sword out from hiding in her dress, efficiently running him through within moments. He never stood a chance.

Bruce frowns. “I was going to do that, you know.”

Talia wipes the blade off on her dress and sheaths the sword before answering. “It’s called Delegation of Authority, Beloved. You’re now the ruler of the Court, and therefore the West. Don’t get your hands dirty so quick into your reign.”

Richard approaches the pair of them, done with his vengeance and duty. Only twelve Court members lie dead on the ground from his hand, and the other five dozen left alive are cowering against the back wall, unable to escape with Timothy overriding the exits.

Richard takes his mask off and falls to his knees at Bruce’s feet, staring up at him with eyes blown wide and specks of blood freckling his cheeks. Cassandra and Jason join him up front, standing on either side of Bruce and Talia. His parents still stand off to the side, unaffected by the carnage they just witnessed being carried out in their name.

“Grandmaster,” Richard pleads, wanting Bruce’s attention back on him. “The Court belongs to you now. What would you have us do?”

Bruce scans the crowd in front of him for a moment, then holds out his hand to Richard. His son takes it immediately and gets to his feet. Bruce maneuvers him to be between himself and Jason, a clear message that the Talon is one of his own now, not one of the Courts tools.

“That’s easy, Richard,” Bruce says to the crowd.  “I would have us rule.”

* * *

In another world, Batman is born. The Court wages a war against him, but in the end, the Night once again belongs to the Bat.

In this world, there is no Batman. There are no Robins, no Batgirls, no vigilantes for Gotham to call her own. Somehow, the war is still waged, and the war is still won, and the Night still belongs to the Waynes.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on [tumblr](http://www.belabellissima.tumblr.com) :)


End file.
